


Claim

by R3d_R0535



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, F/F, M/M, Modern Era, Violence, mention of rape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:22:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29124870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R3d_R0535/pseuds/R3d_R0535
Summary: Eren is an alpha, a human, and to the the best of his knowledge not a murderer. That all changes when he wakes up in a dungeon, chained to a bed with two Survey Corps soldiers staring at him as if he were a monster
Relationships: Erwin Smith/Eren Yeager, Levi/Eren Yeager, Reiner Braun/Eren Yeager
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	1. 2,000 Years

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure if I will continue this. We will see if this goes anywhere.

Eren Jaeger rested amongst his soft, cotton sheets as he moved underneath the comfort of his bed, feeling the warmth, safety, and embrace of it while he remained deep within his slumber. His messy brown hair rubbed against the pale, blue sheets as the sunlight danced across his beige skin, pouring in from the open window by his bed.   
  
The sounds of construction, horses passing by rapidly, and the constant stir of people on the open streets, slowly made him stir in the bed; the cold breeze from outside drawing him from his dreams. He moaned pitifully against his sheets as he heard the noises, his eyes fluttering open. The boy glared murderously at the open window. 

He knew he should have kept it closed, but last night was so hot after training with Shadis, his commander, that he couldn’t stand the heat from his room. So he opened a window to let the cool night air in, falling asleep to the sound of slow cars and the quiet of the night, but now he was being obnoxiously woken by the cars that rushed by to work and the damned birds that chirped with unruly glee in the early morning hours. He was severely regretting his decision. 

Eren groaned out loud as he sat up on his bed and quickly shut the window with a loud slam. He then laid back in bed, trying to will himself to go to sleep as he curled up with the white and blue sheets, stuffing his face in the feather pillows. 

Sleep evaded him though as he curled in the sheets, and the familiar urge to rush to the bathroom overtook his blissful sleep. 

He groaned as he got to his knees, but left his face stuffed in the pillows, not wanting to get up out of bed at all, wishing to say beneath the comfort of his mattress and sheets that smelled like vanilla. The need to piss outgrew his laziness though and he began to move, moaning and complaining the whole time. Eren’s muscles screamed at him when he crawled out of bed, his bones aching as his feet wobbled strangely, heading over to the restroom while groaning with each step. 

He eventually made his unsteady way into the bathroom, pulling down his boxers as his eyes remained closed, automatically doing everything else. 

After he was done with that, he looked in the mirror, sighing as he saw his messy brown hair all over the place. The young man didn’t fix it or care as he just shrugged and turned around to go downstairs, shuffling in his black shorts and green t-shirt. His bones creaked as he walked across the hall, smelling the scents of betas and alphas around him, and his own commanding smell invading the air bitterly; he regretted getting up out of bed.   
. 

He would have thought Shardis would be merciful, since their ending ceremony was just in two days, he thought that he would do something nice for their last day of training. But Shardis had instead tested each of them over their abilities all over again. The man had been relentless as they did drill after drill. And by the end, they were all sweating, dying out in the heat of the day and the scorching sun at their backs. The only one who wasn’t about to pass out was Mikasa, only looking like she got out of a jog, barely even breaking a sweat. 

Eren sighed at the thought, his muscles screeching at him as he remembered the drills once again. But he was at least happy that the whole basic training was done with, and now they could get on to actually being apart of what they wanted to do with the ceremony coming up. It was a time that they chose what branch of the military they wanted to be in, since they completed the Trainee Program, a military training camp for kids in high school.

And now that he was done, it was good to know that he would be moving on to do what he wanted. But for some of the other kids, he couldn’t exactly say that for them. 

All of the high school students who joined the Trainee program would say that they joined so that they could be apart of the soldiers around who protected and cared for them. But all of the students at the center would recite that like a prayer. What they were all really here for was to get into Sina, where they could live happy lives far away from the danger they were trained to defeat. 

And to Eren that was a load of shit. These people were trained to protect humanity, and yet, they wanted to do anything but so they could join a corrupted government and save their own asses. 

The very reason why the Trainee program was even started was so that they could get more people into areas they needed to protect humanity, but that obviously backfired. Nobody wanted to risk their lives and go up against the greatest threat to humanity: the titans. 

They were a group of hostile humanlike creatures as tall as buildings and strong as a god. And the worst of it is that no one knows where they came from.

A hundred years ago, the first titans were seen and It was a massacre, nobody could stop them. There were too many all over and even with advanced technology, it was useless. 

But in time, there were a select few who were able to combat this threat to help humanity, and they made three separate circular walls, which are called states; Sina was posted at the center of the three circles, with only the elite and royals there; Rosa was the second inner circle, sheltering the middle class; Maria was the last of the circles, protecting the lower and poorer classes of people. Each of them were built in areas that would provide long life for crops and where certain materials and minerals could be found and used. 

Surrounding each of the circles were four major cities that also had walls built around them. There were also small villages or towns outside of the cities that were within the states. All of the states had entrances to each of the other ones so people could evacuate to them in times of need. They also had safety procedures so that the hordes of titans would all be obliterated when the cities were evacuated. If there was an attack and the wall had fallen, bombs would be set off in the cities in order for the people to get to Sina or Maria safely. 

With so many safety procedures, the notion of safe seemed to be achieved.

And for a long time, everyone thought that they were secure, that the titans would never attack. But that all changed when wall Maria fell to the titans. The stories that came out of there made the fear of the titans even worse, and fewer people wished to endanger their lives to do anything, perfectly intent to deny and deny.

Many of them had joined up for the Trainee program solely for going to the inner cities of Sina, becoming part of the Military police, and living a fancy life without having to worry about the titans. Most of them would have to settle for the Stationary Guard to watch over the wall, far away from their homes sometimes, since only the top ten could go to the inner cities. But he wasn’t there for either of those positions, he was only here because he wanted to actually fight the titans. 

He was going to join the Survey Corps. 

Ever since he was little, he had wanted to become part of them, he remembered looking out to the crowds of them when they came up on horses, trotting through the city like heros, he’s been in love with the idea of joining them and fighting against the titans since he was a little boy. 

None of the others wanted to take the risk, all of them wanted to simple just forget about it and go on with their lives, but Eren would not forget, could not. 

After all, he was there when it all happened. 

Eren stopped for a second, feeling his mind reel back as he stared down at the pair of stairs that he was walking down, and for a moment he didn’t think of anything at all. Eren stayed still, paralyzed in his place as he stared at the steps.

But soon, he was distracted by the noise and yells of two people fighting in the morning. He continued down the steps to the source of the sound and regretted ever getting up out of his wonderful bed when he was greeted with a cacophony of screaming.   


“Give me it back, Connie!” A brunet, beta girl, who had her hair in a messy ponytail, complained.  


“You had the last five pieces, Sasha, I get this one!” The boy, another beta with a crew cut and almost bald head, argued back. Eren watched as the two fought in the living room, the girl standing on a chair as she shouted down at Connie with a murderous look on her face while the boy had a donut in his hands, and in a few seconds, he engulfed the whole thing down.  


“You slimy little brat! You ate the last one, you sacrilegious shit!” She said as she yanked him back, making him fall to the ground as she began to shake him violently. He ignored the two, having seen this a couple of times in the past, and they did the same thing to him as they bickered, with Connie trying to get the upset and crazy brunette off of him. 

Eren didn’t really feel bad for the boy though, anybody who knows Sasha can vouch that when food and something gets in her way, she will do anything to remove that something. He walked into that one knowing the danger, and maybe he kept doing it due to the fact that he liked her as half the students here thought. 

  
Eren yawned, going through the living room, ignoring the wrestling forms on the floor. Two black couches and some comfy blue and white chairs were around some white desks while other pieces of furniture were placed in circles rested in the living room, arranged without order. Light came in through a glass wall that faced the living room, but was cut off when the kitchen came on. The glass wall showed off a garden area and a walk away, as well as the other dorm rooms and buildings that connected to this one. 

The TV was on as he hung on the far wall, showing a channel that Eren couldn’t remember or care for as he saw a woman talking to the camera while showing off some old-time items. All the while, the two were wrestling on the floor like a pair of little kids.

  
“Knock it off!”’ A loud shout echoed from in the kitchen, which made Eren wince as he smelled and heard the authority as a tremor of rage surged through the air. He scrunched his face up as he smelled the overpowering scent of an alpha, closing his eyes as he entered the kitchen to which he was greeted by his glowering sister. 

  
“Walls, Mikasa,” he cursed, “get your scent under control! It smells like a freaking claiming in here.” He turned towards the now calmed and slightly agitated girl and boy who glared daggers at each other, trying to get rid of the horrid smell as he faced away from the source of it. He could take an alpha’s scent, but when it was amplified like that, especially when one was angry, it didn’t do anyone any good to smell something that was so bitter and sour.   


“Sorry,” she said, her scent already starting to die down while he breathed a sigh of relief, clearing out his sense before going in and sitting at the table near her. The boy rubbed his eyes as he let his own scent waft around him to move the putrid smell away. 

  
“But I don’t want them to wake anybody else in the house.” She explained as she furrowed her brow at the two who still shimmered with hate, but stopped at the sight of her glare, settling the dispute. Eren scoffed in amusement as he walked towards a seat beside her, walking around Mikasa as she chopped up some vegetables while eggs sizzled on the stove behind her.   


“How did you sleep?” Eren’s once calm demeanor suddenly left as he heard the worry that was laced in her voice; the meaning of what she was hinting to, grabbing hold of his once peaceful mindset. 

Eren stared down at the counter, thinking and his mind suddenly remembered all the nights that he tossed and turned in his bed, sweating through the sheets, with an invisible force haunting his every move. He recalled the way he woke up in the night, crying into his mattress, reaching out and trying to grab something, trying to get to it as fast as he could, but always failing just as the dream ended. 

Ever since he was little, his nights had been like this, always waking up with eyes wide in horror and a mind boggled with confusion and sadness. He had never known the true cause of his distress and nightmares, waking to nothing but the blunt horror in his bones and no memories of it to answer his questions or understand his terror. 

He had almost forgotten all about that, his mind having forgotten all the horrors that he faced in the night, because for a whole week he had slept through the dark hours with nothing on his mind but sleep, no nightmares, nothing. It was pure bliss to not have to have anymore nightmares that left him sad and anger, but with no memory of what he had dreamed about, just that terrifying forgetfulness. 

His roommates had never heard him in the night, all too knocked out and occupied with themselves to really care or hear what went on in his room. The only ones who knew were Mikasa and Armin. They both would help him out in washing his sheets, calming him down through the worst of it if they had to. And he hated to bother them with it, but if he didn’t have them, he doubted that he would have been able to cope with it.

For years, this had been going on, but recently, it had gotten worse. The nightmares were far more frequent and intense, sometimes resulting in high strained fevers or waking up shouting. They made excuses to the others, telling them that he was very stressed or that he was just having some bad nightmares; it would pass. The excuses weren’t cutting it though, and there was some backlash from the other cadets. Eventually, it got so bad that Mikasa or Armin had to sleep next to him just so that they could hold his mouth shut not to wake the others. 

Mikasa and Armin wanted him to go to a hospital, get checked out or see a psychologist even, just try to do something to better his situation, but he hated doctors. He would have much rather screamed his lungs out than go and talk to a doctor that didn’t care about him or see a psychologist that only wanted his money. As a solution, they turned to something else to try and help him: herbs. 

One of his officers’ wives had heard about his problem and decided to help; she had given him a couple of leaves, telling him to put it into hot water and drink it before he went to bed every night. She hadn’t guaranteed anything though, there was a very high possibility that it wouldn't’ work at all. He had been taking it for two weeks, but the nightmares were still as intense and furious as ever. He thought that the effect wasn’t working at all and he was about to give up on it. Then, on his third week, he stopped having the nightmares. 

It was a miracle. He has never rested so well for such a long time, too long for him to have remembered a better sleep than that. And now he slept like this all the time, no nightmares, no dreams, just blissful and undisturbed sleep. Mikasa felt like she needed to ask how he slept though, since she stopped visiting his room and stayed in hers for the rest of the time; she asked every morning if he slept fine, and while he understood her concern, he was beginning to be annoyed. 

  
“I slept just like the last few nights, mom.” He answered with an eye roll, focusing on how her eyes gleamed with a bit of irritation. “No nightmares.” She nodded, not reacting to his sarcastic comment, her attention back on the sizzling eggs as she scooped them up and deposited them on a plate next to cooked bacon and some orange juice. 

  
“That’s good.” He nodded with her, agreeing as she watched languidly as she washed up, placing the pan in the sink behind her, putting it under some water for it to be cleaned. 

“I’m glad that the tea helped. We’re going to have to get some more for you then. I’ll go out and get them later on today, before the ceremony tomorrow.” Eren shook his head as she came back, putting away the eggs in the fridge and then focusing her eyes on him. 

“No, let me get them, I’ll go after breakfast.” 

There was hesitance in her eyes though as she looked at him, about to protest, but he countered her in time, “You have to stay here anyways as the head leader, doing all your duties and everything.” Her decision started to waver as she considered his words, her eyes turning to the side in calculation. 

Eren knew that she couldn’t say no to this though, she had way too many responsibilities to keep helping him with those things. She had taken then the title of squad leader because she was the top in their class, and so was in charge of keeping everything in order, making sure no one slacked off here, that they cleaned their areas, and were ready to go when orders were given. 

If anything went wrong here, she would be the one punished, no one else. But she also had the luxury of taking off more days than the rest, having more hours to stay awake if she wished, and was able to go out to the town when the others couldn’t. 

It was part of the training, to give top students this role so that they would understand the rewards they reaped and the responsibility they had as well. Eren had been shooting for that position ever since he heard about it, but Mikasa got it with ease and grace; obviously due to the fact that she was better than him at combat and was a natural leader. 

He wasn’t too mad that she got some of the top-scoring; he was just glad that none of the assholes in the class were able to reach the reward because they would not be able to handle it. Mikasa never took advantage of her rewards and always stayed close with the group. She never went out when the others couldn’t, made sure to distance herself from most of the cadets, and always gave orders whether those who complained liked it or not. 

But due to his situation, she only used those rewards up for him, going out in the night to get herbs or going out on the town to help him. And she suffered from a lack of sleep because of his nightmares and worked overtime for him. He could see that it wore down on her some days. He didn't want to cause any more problems now that his problems weren’t becoming so much of one for her; he wanted to take control of it and start doing stuff on his own time. 

She gave him a small look, still a little reluctant to let go of it. 

“Hey, sis,” he called, “I’ve got this. You don’t have to worry so much.” The girl eyed him for a moment, taking in the way that his eyes pleaded a little for her to let this go and let him deal with it as he should. It was his problem anyway. She then ended up relenting, nodding as she sighed. 

  
“Alright,” she mumbled while he smiled, nodding his head as he got up, heading off to get his coffee. 

“Just be sure that you're careful out there, okay? And get back in time as well. I need to give a little speech to you guys before tomorrow, remind them of what they need and other things.” He nodded his head as he got a coffee cup and turned back to her, watching as she looked down at her food then, her hand reaching up to her red scarf and sniffing the material.   


“Why do you keep doing that?” he questioned as he crossed behind her, going over to the counter where the coffee brewed; the smell attracting him like a bee to honey.   


“It smells nice.”  


“You always say that, even when we wash it.” He examined while getting out the coffee and pouring it in his red cup, loving the nice scent that came from it as it filled his nose with the sweet aroma.   


“And I’ve never smelled anything on it but detergent.” He swiftly poured in some creamer to his coffee, watching the dark, obsidian liquid turn as what looked like puffs of clouds turned it into a beige tan. He added in a few teaspoons of sugar, mixing the ingredients together before he turned back to his sister who shrugged, returning to her meal as she slid it over to his chair, taking his place.   


“It doesn’t really matter, does it? It just smells good to me.” The girl commented as she sat down, her skirt flattening as she did so, eating her eggs up.   


“Well, it was my mother.” He said, leaving his coffee as he went over to the fridge and got some bread out, putting it inside the toaster as he waited for them to be done. “So, technically, you like her smell.”  


“But you gave it to me,” she commented as he leaned against the counter, “isn’t it yours as well?” He nodded his head, turning away form her as he saw the red heat come from the toast, watching as it burned.   


“I’m an Alpha though,” he stated, hearing a few snickers in the background from Connie and Sasha as he spoke, “and you know how other Alphas smell.” The two betas giggled from inside the room and didn’t stop as he turned back, seeing the confusion in Mikasa’s otherwise emotionless face and Connie with Sasha, behind her, making faces at Eren that sated mischievously: “Are we interrupting something?”

Eren had to force himself not to go over to them and shove something up their asses. Those two have been hounding Eren for days on whether or not Mikasa and he are actually a couple, and he gave them the same response every time: “We are not gay, thank you very much.” 

No matter how stern he is, though, he keeps getting that same look from them over and over again, watching as they gave him knowing smiles or just smirked at one another, raising their eyebrows. 

It was a rumor that the two had heard that they were ‘going out and hella gay’ if he heard right. But he never consented to that rumor and always said that it was complete bullshit. While there was nothing wrong with two alphas doing what they wished or omegas, it was something that both of them did not partake in. 

He viewed her as a sister and nothing less or more than that, and sincerely hoped that one day she'd find some omega since he knew she was straight, and that the both of them would have tons of babies and she’d be a suitable husband for her wife. 

They didn’t hear anything that he said, though, and relied on a juicy rumor for their entertainment. He let it go, letting them have their fun. So long as they kept it to themselves. 

Eren only shook his head as he saw the looks, thankful that Mikasa was still wrapped up in the red scarf to really pay attention to what was going on behind her or the glare that he was shooting the two other cadets, mumbling: “Doesn’t smell like another alpha...or an omega….”  


He walked away from the alpha, grabbing his toast as he did so, and went towards the two betas, scolding them with a glare as they raised up their hands in surrender and walked over to the couch, sitting down, but giggling to one another still. They huddled close together as they gave each other looks, and Eren ignored them, heading over to a beanie bag. 

“Have either of you two seen Shadis?” he inquired while he placed the coffee on the table in front of him, settling down with a muffled sound of the material inside moving around to adapt to his weight. The two stopped their giggling as they shook their heads; the TV still on as it blasted the morning news. 

  
“No, but I heard he went to the Military base this morning. It was something about the choosing ceremony.” Sasha answered and he nodded, feeling a sense of relief settling in his bones at the information. 

He didn’t have to worry about being clean and proper or getting Mikasa in trouble when the commander came around. He propped up his feet on the table with the knowledge, and drank from his drink, watching the television. He then turned towards the two betas, feeling boredom set in as he heard the news, asking them what they decided to pick out as a career.   
  
“Military Police, obviously!” They both shouted as they high-fived each other, while Eren just rolled his eyes at the two of them, sipping a little bit more of his coffee.   


“And you still going to the Winged Suicidals, Jaeger?” an annoying voice asked as Jean came in from the gaming room, a smug smile entering his face as he leaned against the doorway, giving Eren a douchebag face that he had to contain himself to punch. 

Jean Kirstein was Eren‘s mortal enemy, his nemesis, or as he would like to put it, that alpha asshole that has to piss everywhere because he’s an insecure shit. He hated Jean almost as much as he hated titans. Granted, Jean wasn’t as bad as how he had first met him, his mouth wasn’t constantly going off at one thing or another and trying to seem like the baddest one of the bunch anymore. 

There were a couple of times that he bested him though, proving that he had the skill, and he didn’t feel the impulse to actually say anything that came to his mind. He still always had something to say to specifically him, some smart-ass comment to add in when he was involved in the equation, and he was beginning to find it very dissatisfying and aggravating. 

Eren could hear Marco complaining to him in the room, telling him to come back and stop messing with him, but the freckled boy was ignored as Jean stared at him, smirking. 

The green-eyed boy glared as he was about to respond with a snide comment, but that was swiftly stopped when his sister automatically covered his mouth, stuffing it with a piece of his toast as she whispered, “Ignore him,” with a pointed glare. The boy gave her a look back but didn’t say anything else as he idly chewed on his bread. 

  
Fortunately, Jean did not comment or make anymore noise as he was drawn back into the room by Marco, grabbing his arms to go and play whatever game he had left open. 

So the boy tiredly grabbed his mug of coffee, taking in the scent which made him smile. He then watched the TV, seeing the new show of _The Walled Cities_ in which the man introduced the audience to the wonderful inner cities and all the many shops, stores, and special places inside the different cities.  
  
It wasn’t long before Eren was done with his coffee and bread, feeling refreshed as he stretched myself on the couch and told Mikasa that he was going to go out on for the tea; she complied, only saying, “Make sure you have a phone with you, and if you can, take someone with you. Call me when you get there too.” 

Eren rolled his eyes at her mothering nature as he walked upstairs. He then took a shower and got dressed. He ended up wearing skinny blue jeans with a black belt and a red button-up shirt that he tucked into his jeans.   


When he checked himself in the mirror, he looked rather nice in the outfit or so he realized, turning around to see how it fit him rather snugly, lining his lean muscles that he had been working on for the past three years since he joined the Trainee program. He wasn’t exactly muscular yet, not really defined as some of the others were, but he was not lacking and it showed. 

Eren smirked then as he walked out, grabbing his phone and wallet as he left his room. The boy tossed on a light coat then and set out, grabbing his wallet before he departed with a goodbye out the door, Mikasa watching him go with a worried expression. 

  
The green-eyed boy shook his head as he rolled his eyes at her protectiveness. He wondered if she ever would stop treating him like an Omega and more like the Alpha he was. He walked down the sidewalk as horses and carriages passed by on the road, zipping past the building complex as he headed towards the store down town. She probably never will. 


	2. That Moment

“Eren!” a shrill voice called as he walked into the shop, smiling at the woman as the bell rang. The smell of different herbs hit him as he went in. He sniffed the air, his eyes watering slightly from the different aromas filtering around. A woman, wearing dirty blue jeans and a tan tank top walked over to him with a smile on her lips, her arms opening up for a hug.   
  
“Hey, Catherine.” Eren greeted as he hugged her, feeling heat and the smell of sweat and mud clinging to her creamy white skin. The woman pulled away, her brown eyes gleaming in the light as her smile glistened.

  
“How are you?” She inquired as she backed away from him, heading over to the front of the store, where there was a large bar that separated the cashier from the customer. Eren shrugged as he followed her through the shop   


“I’m doing better. The tea you gave me worked wonders.” The woman giggled, moving past the poster of the military in her shop. There was a picture right beside it of a young girl and a man by her who stared at her as if she were the world.

“How is your husband?” he questions the omega. She just rolls her eyes, groaning. “He is barely here at all, always off looking after your squadron,” she complained, a pointed glare going over to the boy who smiled. Catherine's alpha was one of his commanders, and that was the sole reason why he was able to even find this shop. 

Usually, he wouldn’t even dare come over to this corner of town, where normally the obnoxious drunken soldiers of the stationary guards were just down the street, hanging out and causing disastrous trouble, or so he had heard from several omegas and alphas. But his commander suggested that he should go and that he would be safe. The stationary guards usually just get drunk and go inside some abandoned buildings down the street; they barely bother anyone.  


He came down here and met the omega, finding out that she was actually very sweet and kind, not at all like her husband was.

“Oh, you said it work?!” she exclaimed with excitement while Eren’s attention turned towards her and he nodded his head. 

“I am so happy! I was hoping that it worked, but I am kind of surprised it did since it’s usually used to settle omegas during their heats.” She then furrowed her brow as she looked down at the counter, but she soon shrugged with a smile pulling at her cheeks.   
  
“But then again, I’ve never tried it on an alpha. So I guess it works both ways! That’s good! I can sell it to alphas now, recommend it to them for when they’re overly stressed. Oh, it can help so many! I am so happy!” She squealed while she rambled on incessantly. Eren smiled at her strange, quirky ways, finding it still hard to believe that the man that he knew to be hardworking and serious had such an outgoing and enthusiastic wife. 

_Opposites attract_ , he mimicked the phrase in his mind, smirking still.   


“Did you need some more?” She questioned, turning towards the herbs behind her, as she waited for a reply. Eren answered, telling her that he needed another supply for about two weeks. 

“Ok, where are you?” she mumbled to herself.   


“Oh, Eren,” she called, her head turning back towards him, “I heard that your Trainee ceremony is soon. Actually, I saw it on TV! You excited?” The boy smirked as he looked at her, watching her knowing smile. She knew about his passion for the survey corps and how much he wished to join that branch of the military, but she wasn’t exactly encouraging all the time. 

_“No, you know what will happen, you’ve seen the statistics, more than seventy-five percent of members who join are dead in the following year. And that is in the first year, Eren, your first years. You’ll just be twenty-one, you might not even be able to turn twenty-two.”_

And she had a good argument, anyone who talked about the Survey Corps had a better argument than he did for joining. That didn’t stop him, none of the facts did, because despite what people thought, what they wanted him to do, he knew that there was no other path for him. 

He was trained, raised to do this job because if he wasn’t going to, who was? They needed more people in the Survey Corps so that one-day people could live outside the walls, actually live their lives without fear or suspicion of that one day coming when the titans would attack and kill everyone. He didn't want to be one of those people labeled as cattle, food for the titans, but a warrior, the thing that stood between them and humanity. 

He just wanted freedom from those walls that blocked off the sun, and the titans that stole his dreams.   


“Yeah,” he nodded his head as his eyes filled with fire and determination, “I am kind of excited.”   


“You scared?” he opened his mouth, confidence-boosting through him, as he thought that he would never be afraid of a titan or the mission ahead. The words fell closed though as he remembered the fear of his nightmares, his eyes growing hollow as he thought of the titans, a faint memory of a woman sobbing entering his mind. 

He shook his mind off that thought, telling himself once again he wasn’t scared. This was his dream, ever since he was little. He didn’t want to do anything but this. How could he be afraid of his dream?  


“Not even close,” he countered as she sauntered back, having found the herb.

“Well,” she said with exaggeration, “I hope that this helps with the stress of it all since you clearly have it.” She placed the herbs in front of him, already in a bag with a small, green bow on it.  


“Alright, that’ll be thirty dollars,” she started and he got out his wallet, taking out the money to pay. 

“Eren!” a shrill voice then screamed in the room as the boy whipped around to see a small figuring running towards him as fast as it could. It collided with him and jumped up onto him. He just barely caught the child, holding them in his arms with his money and wallet fell to the dirty ground. 

“Oh my god!” he groaned out as the girl hugged him tight, almost suffocating the boy.

“Isabel!” the woman shouted at her daugher, but Eren put up a hand, shaking his head as he mouthed to her that he was fine. She let out a huff, but gave her child a quick reprimanding glare, moving away from them to go get something. 

“I thought you weren't coming for another week!"

“I thought so too, but I ran out of that stuff quicker than I thought.” She smiled at him, grinning from ear to ear as she bounced in his arms, her red hair swinging in her ponytail. The faint smell of lavender wafting in the air as she burst in enthusiasm. 

“Then can I show you the new garden?!”

The boy considered the idea for a moment as he continued to hold her in his arms, but as he thought for a moment, he knew he couldn't. There were a few things he had to do in preparation for the ceremony though like getting his uniform in top condition military-style or getting his room cleaned up and things packed. There was a lot he was going to have to do today. 

With a heavy heart, he shook his head and as an immediate response she slumped in his arms, a glare resting on her once peaceful face. “Why not?”

“I have to prepare for the ceremony to pick which section of the military I'm going to be in, but I promise that I will come next week still, and by then I’ll be in the Survey Corps. I can show off my uniform to you and everything!” she considered it for a moment, her eyes narrowing as she watched him. 

“Promise?” the boy smiled. “Promise,”

She sighed as she let go of him, her body going limp in his arms as she said dramatically: “Fine,” Eren rolled his eyes at the girl while she hopped off of him, sauntering over to her mother.

“Where’s the shovel, Mom?” the woman pointed towards the back of the store while Eren picked up his change, laying it on the counter. “Look in the compartment in the garden on the far left, it should be above there.” She nodded, moving along, and waved goodbye to Eren, demanding that he keep his promise with a glare. 

“Don’t worry, I will!” Catherine stalked back over to him, giving him an apologetic look.   


“Sorry about that, she is usually never so outgoing; only when you’re around.” Ever since the first day he walked in here and met the girl, she had been unusually rambunctious and mischievous with him than others. 

Eren would say that it was because he was an omega’s man, but he honestly wondered as to why that was. She was a quiet girl, silent to anyone else, even her own mother, but around him, all her colors came out beautifully. Around him, she was funny, spiteful, witty, and demanding, with others it was far different, quite the opposite. It could have been because of his smell, depending on how she reacted to it, it could sooth her, everyone’s natural smell was different after all. At the thought of scents, he recalled the young girl's lavender one just now and realized that he could no longer smell any traces of it. It was quite faint.

“She doesn’t have a very strong scent,” Catherine tensed a little at his words.   
  


"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. That was rude of me." He immediately apologized, knowing it was rude to comment on someone's scent, especially a young girl's.

“It's alright. It's something that's been concerning me and it's getting worse. I'm afraid that she might be going scentless." Eren’s eyes widened as he heard what she said.   
  
  
Scentless was a condition where a person loses their natural smell due to depression, trauma, or severe anxiety, and in their society, scent dominates most of their interactions. It showed what your orientation was and was the basis that people chose their mates or those they liked. Losing one’s scent is like losing a part of yourself. It is what identifies you, tells others who you are even. 

And to think that something could happen to Isabel like that. He didn’t think that any kid or anyone for that matter should have to suffer through that. 

“What happened?” he then questioned. The woman shook her head, eyes mournful. 

“I don’t know,” she whispered to him, “but I’m afraid of what might have happened to her and what she might not be telling me.” 

_She could be hiding anything from her._ Eren thought as he looked to the place that she went into, probably humming a tune as she watered some plants, completely innocent, and yet hiding a dark secret.

“I wouldn’t normally tell this to anyone,” she added, eyes pleading, “but I need you to watch out for her, okay? Just tell me if there is anything suspicious and maybe even talk to her too? Every time someone asks her, she ignores them and I can't get anything out of her. She might listen to you though.” 

“Yeah, of course, I’ll do whatever I can, Cathrine, anything.” She smiled at him, relief washing over her face while her eyes still remained sad and upset. 

“Thank you, I haven’t even told her father because I don’t want him to freak out.” She wiped her head, her wrinkles and stress showing through as she looked up to the ceiling. “And you know how alphas can be very protective.”

He knew because if that were his daughter, he’d do worse than what she might be thinking. If he knew about this and was her father, he would make sure that there was military personnel around her, get a psychiatrist even, do a straight intervention, anything to dispel the threat that had moved its way into his home. Keeping an alpha out of the situation was probably good, for now. 

“I’ll keep an eye out on her, Cathrine.” He vowed, watching the stress start to pour off of her, some of her worry ebbing away.

“Oh,” she said as she gained her composure, sliding the bag of herbs to him, “here’s your things." 

“Thanks,” he said, giving her one last reassuring smile, “don't worry too much about it, Catherine. Have a good day and tell the squirt not to get dirty in her hair.”

She laughed at the comment, the tension disappearing. "Thank you and it's probably already too late for that."

He waved her goodbye then and quickly departed, going towards the sidewalk. Eren felt like he had a heavy heart though as he left the woman to her own mind. he looked through the window then and the smile that he saw just moments ago was wiped off. She stood there watching her herbs as if they might hold some kind of answer to her problem. he hoped that she would be alright as he moved along the street, but as he placed his hand in his pocket he felt his phone. Immediately, he stopped himself and remembered Mikasa.

_“Call me when you get there...”_ _  
_

“Shit!” Eren shouted as he quickly scrambled for his phone, stopping by an abandoned and wrecked house. He looked around the street then, seeing that there was no one in this particular area, but he thought nothing of it as he started to hear it ring, bringing it to his ear.   
  


_Man, I hope she doesn’t kill_ _me-_ A smell wafted towards him, a distinct scent that he recognized from his younger years, from his nightmares. He then lowered the phone down, looking towards the building with wide eyes. _  
_

“Eren?” a voice called as he stared off at the building, but he couldn't hear the voice. He could not even see anything except that building as that scent engulfed him, bringing back untold and untouched memories.  


“No,” he breathes out as he drops the phone, running off inside the building.


	3. Mikasa

Mikasa glared at her cell phone that was resting on the kitchen counter, waiting for it to ring at some point, but the phone remained noncompliant to her silent demands. The cadet had been watching the phone for a good ten minutes now after she had finished all her duties, but the phone hadn’t rung at all. And her heart sank into worry as the minutes ticked by. 

She knew she told Eren to call her, remembered telling him just before he went out. And even though this happens every once in a while, where Eren doesn’t call because he thinks that she was too protective or demanding, she had a different feeling about this one. 

Then again, she always had a different feeling. She sighed in frustration as she grabbed her phone, her brow furrowing as she pushed her way upstairs, ignoring all the other cadets as she headed to her room to verbally reprimand him. She would have done it right there in front of everyone, but he had asked her to stop that. 

_“You embarrass me all the time when you do that with the others around,”_ he had complained. _“I’m a grown alpha now, you don’t have to go around doing that to me, or at least not in front of the others.”_

She mentally groaned at the memory, wondering why he had to be so difficult. He always complained about how she would worry about him, always had a small attitude for the way she treated him, even if it was for his own good. And it was all so frustrating to her that he couldn't see that. 

Couldn’t he see that she did all of this because she wanted him to be careful, that it was all for him? She didn't understand why he felt so embarrassed at all by it. Wasn’t that what she was supposed to do for him? Isn’t that the purpose of a friendship? 

Or was he actually right? 

She sniffed the scarf that was around her neck, staring at her phone as she did, smelling the intense scent that rested against the fabric. 

The scent was sweet like flowers but also held a very unique taste to it. Her stress instantly withered as she smelled that heavenly aroma, closing her eyes for a moment to really take it in. The other cadets, as well as her friends, Armin and Eren, both had joked that she looked like a drug addict, sniffing up their next hit. In some ways, they were right. 

That scent was more addictive than anything she had ever smelled in her life. It made her worries go away for a moment’s time and made her feel so good as well. It was a dangerous combination of easement and arousal that kept her on edge. And the only thing close to this was Eren’s bitter alpha aroma, but that was too sour and spiced to really be his. 

And maybe that was the reason why she was so protective of him because that scent was the one thing she really cherished besides her two friends. Her alpha instincts just became territorial with it, attached in some way. So maybe Eren’s claims were right, Eren wasn’t the owner of this scent, even though he did smell like it even just a bit, she shouldn’t treat him like an omega because of her faults. 

Mikasa couldn’t control what her alpha wanted though, at least when it came to this. So she protected and worried about him, took care of him as she would her mate. And for years she believed that she was just doing this to sate her alpha desires, but now she understood it was much more than that. 

Even if she could control her alpha and all of its desires, she never wanted to. There was something that she felt for Eren, something illegal and against most of society’s views of what two alphas should be to one another, but a feeling none the less. She wanted to protect him, brush his hair out of his face, carry him when he felt weary, and do everything that an alpha should do for their omega. 

That was not an option, though, because he didn’t have those feelings. Eren thought of her as his sister, nothing more and nothing less. And so she went on with unrequited love and wanting eyes resting on Eren, without him ever turning towards her. 

She frowned as she went into her room, closing the door with a hard slam as she began to call Eren, trying to forget her other thoughts. Her phone lit up before she could press in the numbers, showing that it was Eren calling. Mikasa breathed in a sigh of relief as she rolled her eyes in ease, the tension in her body leaving as she answered the call. 

  
“Eren?” she questioned in an angry, but relieved voice, her hands grabbing onto her sheets as she sat down on her bed. She listened carefully for his voice, but he didn’t respond, not with his cheerful voice or the one that was filled with regret. There was nothing there. 

  
“Eren?” she questioned again, confused and hesitant to say more. 

Then, one sound came through the phone: “No,” she could hear the word clearly although it was whispered and distant as if he wasn’t talking to her. 

That was Eren on the line for sure. It was his voice. The phone then suddenly dropped on the other line, running feet being heard as they scuffed the ground while she was left to grip her phone, anxiety racing through her blood.

“Eren!’ she tried to call, but no one came to the phone and no matter what she said to the receiver nothing came back. Soon the call ended and she was left breathless and flabbergasted. With swift movements, she dialed his number again, hoping to reach him.  


“Come on, Eren!” she pleaded, her voice desperate as she heard the dial tone start and end in disappointment.

“Hey, this is Eren….Uh...Missed me? Leave a message!” she scowled as she heard the voicemail, frustration, and concern mixing together to make her own scent grow bitter. After the twentieth or hundredth time, she wasn't even sure how many times she called him, she finally decided she would have to go down there despite her responsibilities. All that mattered was him. 

  
“Eren, what happened? Are you alright? I don’t know what happened, but I’m coming for you.” She told him as the message ended and she glared down at her phone, feeling an emptiness and loss that she couldn't explain, giving her own phone a death glare as her stomach sank in worry.   


“Shit!” she cursed as she shot up from her bed, looking around in dismay as she ran a shaky hand through her hair. She glanced back at her phone as that pitiful feeling welled in her. All the worst-case scenarios that got put to the back of her mind by Eren’s constant nagging threatened to come to the surface. She knew how Eren could be, the kinds of situations that he got mingled into due to his need to help others or just his plain curiosity. Trouble called to him like a disease to a weak immune system; it was inevitable. 

And right then she was cursing ever letting him go in the first place, she should have known better, should have protected him better. Guilt grabbed her soul as she thought of the horrors he could be facing right now, her alpha instincts to protect then kicked in, forcing her to act. She headed straight for the door, energy surging and legs moving of their own accord.  


She had to go get him; otherwise, who knew what was going to happen to him. 

But as she went to her door, reaching towards it with more force than she intended, her phone began to ring once again. Filled with hope, she quickly answered it, not even bothering to check if it was Eren or not, her hands only reacting to what her muscles wanted to do.

  
“Eren?!” she said in a distressed voice, but she was not met with his sweet and caring tone. 

Instead, she heard the sound of a throaty, “Mikasa? What’s the matter?” she grunted out a groan as she did not hear Eren’s voice and ended the call, seeing that it was Thomas, one of her comrades in the 104th squadron she was in.   


“Ugh!” she growled as she punched a wall, feeling her own smell engulfing everything as she had the urge to run out the door, find him, get him back here, and make sure that he was safe. She had to find him! Just as she was about to get going again, a loud crashing and crumbling sound could be heard from outside, as if a building had just come down. She went over to her bedroom window to see what it was and she could only see bits of smoke from the debris of a house falling in a certain direction. 

_It looks like it came from downtown. That's where Eren went!  
_

A smell, rancid, inhuman, and unbelievably bitter surrounded her then, halting her rage as the urge to flee from the smell overcame her. She stood in her place though, hiding her face in the sweet-smelling scarf as the horrid scent filtered in the air. She had never smelled anything like it before, nothing so rotted and abhorring to her senses that she couldn’t stand it, not a minute. 

She inhaled the sweet scent of the scarf deeply though and then heard the commotion all around the house as chaos clouded over it.


	4. 104th Squadron

“These officials are said to be taken into custody as of this morning after the AO’s in the area accused them of hurting and harming omegas…” The television echoed in the living room as the cadets ignored the gruesome tales on-screen, chatting to each other in excitement as almost all of them were already out of their beds. Most of them wandered around in the living room, holding a cup of coffee or eating some food that was still left over as the sound of loud voices filled the room. 

A few of the cadets sat on the couches they pulled together, talking to one another with smiles on each of their faces. “I’m so excited for tomorrow, you don’t even understand!” Sasha said as she smirked, her deep, brown eyes shimmering with mirth as she bounced up and down on the seat.

“No, I am too. I can’t wait to get out of here.” An alpha boy commented, Renier, who had blond hair and a strong chin, his deep blue eyes gleaming with the same amount of relief and excitement as her. 

“Finally, I’ll be able to get out of this training and go see something other than this town.” Some of the small groups that gathered around the couches nodded as the other trainees continued to walk around, avoiding the many boxes of belongings that were stacked along the walls, each with a name on it, containing their items. Each one of the trainees was packed and ready to go for when the orders came, and none of them were complaining about moving out either. They all felt a sense of relief that the time had come. 

Each of them had spent the past three to four years training there, doing the same routines as they worked their muscles to the limit, obeyed orders left and right without disobeying, and many of them weren’t even able to see their family that often. So to finally be liberated from all of that was a weight off their chests, and something they looked forward to. 

“Of course you are Reiner,” Don, an omega, sighed as he tugged on his red hoodie, glowering at him. “You get to go to Sina with Bertholdt and Annie, and all those other lucky sons of bitches while we go to the outer walls.” 

“I hear that the outer walls are terrible too,” a small beta girl, Mina, with two ponytails in her long, thick black hair said as she shook her head, fear laced within her voice, “some even say that there are a couple titans there always prowling, waiting for an opportunity to eat one of the guards.” 

“Yeah, that’s the sucky part, Mina,” Thomas, an alpha boy, barked as he rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. “We have to face these titans, we don’t even really have a choice because we all know that we’d take the Military Police in a heartbeat. But none of us can get there because we weren’t in the top ten.” The group agreed with the boy, wholly agreed. 

None of them wanted to be apart or even try to risk the titans wrath. They were all too afraid to face them. They heard the stories of how they trampled over the town of Shiniganshi, read and saw the news on how they devoured any and all they saw without an ounce of mercy or humanity in them. Those stories were enough to make anyone steer clear from them.

“Well,” a nervous alpha boy, Bertholdt, commented as he looked to a corner of the room, rubbing his neck, sweat accumulating on his skin, “that is really...um...terrible.” 

“Maybe you guys should have just tried a little harder then,” Jean with a cocky grin interrupted as he turned around to face the small group of people, his two toned hair shining in the light coming from the glass wall. 

“If you really didn’t want to face those titans,” The trainees glared at him as he flashed a grin at them, letting his overconfidence weigh down the others. 

“At least you aren’t Eren! He wants to join those stupid Scouts Regiment, and he’s probably going to die within a week of being there too.” None of the other cadets argued with the cocky boy, they only turned their gazes from him or glared because he was right. The statistics of even getting out of that section alive were one in a hundred. 

They all knew about Eren’s stance on where he wished to be, having heard him give his inspiring speech before, and none could argue that he was going to make it. While he fought as well as he could, he was brash, uncoordinated, and just not talented in any way with the gear. He didn’t have the sort of skill that Mikasa, Annie or the others had. Jean knew that, everyone did. 

“Jean!” a freckled, beta boy, with parted black hair in the middle, scolded him, apologizing to the group as he tried to pull him away from the angered and saddened group. The boy only shook off his weak grip as he stood tall in his leather jacket and white T-shirt as he dusted himself off. 

“It’s alright, Marco, we all know that Jean has a love/hate hard-on for Jaeger anyways.” A tall alpha girl, Ymir, then commented as she placed her arm around Christa, an evil grin splitting over her freckled and tanned face. 

“I’m not gay,” Jean spits out, while Marco tries to calm him down, giving Ymir more apologizes, “and even if I was, I would never ever go out with a suicidal bastard like him.” Christa glared at the man as her sweet blue eyes turned venomous.

“Having balls doesn’t mean he’s suicidal, Jean, but you wouldn't know that, now would you?” She then snapped as part of the room stopped what they were doing, peering at her with a questioning glance. The group themselves paused before they all responded with: 

“Oooooh!” 

“Damn omega!”

“Kill’em!”

“Little omega can knock’em down!”

Ymir sat there, kissing the girl’s cheek as she gave her a proud squeeze, a grin still playing over her face. Jean was left speechless as the rest of the room mocked him. After a moment of feeling the humiliation drown him, eyes mocking and words spewing hateful things towards him, he left, walking away from them fuming as Marco followed after.

“That was the best, babe.” Ymir encouraged as she gave the small omega another kiss to the cheek, her hand holding the girl close to her. Christa just smirked as she said: “Someone had to tell him,”

The commotion then continued, while in the background, the TV continued playing, staying on the news channel as the anchorman said: “...the scandal in the military police could pose a threat to some of the projects currently going on. But we’ll have to see where the trail leads as the days dwindle down to when the jury will reach a verdict. Now, in other news, the town of Trost is said to have the arrival of the Survey Corps any day now- ” the newsman suddenly went quiet as his nose began to scrunch on the screen, a look of disgust forming on his face. 

At the newfound silence from the TV, attention was drawn to the screen, they watched in interest as the man seemed to be tongue-tied. The room began to joke, saying that he smells his own fart, or that he caught a whiff of something rotting. He then began to cover his nose, shaking his head in dismay as the others laughed a little at his face.   


“W-what the hell is that smell?!” he shouted, covering his nose as best he could while others in the newsroom began to cough and shout as well. The laughter began to die down then and fade completely when the man started to collapse on the desk he was sitting at, trying to cover his nose as best he could.

Those sitting on the couches stared at each other in confusion as they all started to stir and straighten their backs, feeling confusion and distress build up in their bones as they eyed the TV screen. Another man, this one thinner and fairer looking, looked at him confused. His eyes traveled around to see the others around him coughing, looking confused and worried.   


“What’s wrong?’ he asked, but the anchorman only shook his head.    


“You don’t smell that?!” another man, one behind the camera yelled as he coughed violently, some of the others dashing away in the background towards the exit. The fair man though, didn’t smell a thing wrong as he shrugged his shoulders, unsure and very worried as he tried to help the others.   


“Smell what?”    


“That fucking scent!” the man shouted once more, but the other just shook his head and helped him off stage. The fair man then apologized, canceling the show. The group of trainees were quiet as they eyed each other, hesitant to say a thing about what they just saw as the screen just showed a loud, obnoxious beep, different colors bouncing off the canceled show.

Then a smell that was worse than rotting eggs, worse than urine staining bed sheets or anything else they had smelled before engulfed the room as a series of trainees began to cough violently. A small amount were left to look at them with worried glances as they only smelled peaches and sunflowers blowing in the air. 


	5. Armin

The commotion from downstairs carried upstairs into the empty rooms around. In one room, a blonde boy stared at himself in the bathroom mirror. He looked intently at his deep blue eyes that held emotions of hesitation and confusion. The moments pass by as laughter echoes up to his room that is nearly cleaned out, with boxes layering it, but there are a few things left strewn on the floor. He ignores it though as he stares into the mirror with doubt glistening in his eyes.

His sky blue eyes then flickered upwards to observe his blonde hair, and with a sorrowful look, he stares down to the floor. He sees the many small pieces of hair that he cut off, his eyes then snap up to the mirror. His hair is newly groomed, with the once longer, chin-length hair strands cut to resemble a classic fade hairstyle.

With relief, he notices that he isn’t bad-looking, in fact, he doesn't look anything like his former self at all. He doesn't have that baby-face look anymore, or at least not as exaggerated as he did with his longer hair. He actually believed now that he was twenty-one, just like his friends. 

He then stepped back, seeing his full body form with his new hairstyle, and as he backed up, the six-pack on his stomach showing and his hairstyle giving off a more stern appearance, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Was that really him in the mirror, staring back with those large, blue eyes, the hard muscles, and intimidating presence? Could that have been him? Small, little Armin who could barely do anything in his first year in the Trainee program? The barely passing beta?

He touched his face for a moment, feeling his hair, and as the image in the mirror did the same his breath was taken away by the change that he just did to his appearance. It was such a small one too, just clipping away his hair, and then there was the powerful beta that his friends always said that he could be, the intimidating figure that could muster up strategies and plans from off his brain in a matter of seconds. 

Armin had been considering doing this for a long while now. It wasn’t just because having long hair caused him to be ridiculed and bullied, or that he just didn’t like it anymore, but more so that he wanted a new look with his new life. He was going to be joining the Scouts Regiment, graduating from the Trainee program in a few days, moving out of the dorms that he had become so accustomed to, and finally living up to his friends’ expectations. 

So much will be changing and with those changes, he too needed to adapt to the circumstance. He more than anyone else out of his friends had to do this.

_Armin could hardly breathe in his gear as they raced with heavy loads on his back. He felt as if it would drag him down to the floor any second and he would be left behind. He struggled to keep up, struggled to move with the group, but he was in the back, straggling along._

_"Armin, what are you doing? Keep up!" Eren shouted, the proud alpha slowing his pace to be beside him. Mikasa followed suit, always within arms reach of Eren._

_"I'm fine,"_

_"No, you aren't." He knew Eren could hear the exhaustion in his voice, the bitter knowledge that he was about to fall over at any second. He hated being so weak that both his friends could tell without much trouble that he was slacking._

_"Here, let me carry the load," Eren said, but Mikasa would not have it._

_"Pass it this way. I can handle it better than either of you."_

_"You don't have to show off, Mikasa." The other alpha said with snark and anger, "I'm an alpha too you know?"_

_"It's a fact. I've been lifting heavier than you for a long while." The two bickered, but Armin hated it. He felt himself growing weaker by the minute, but the more that his friends talked, the more he wanted to do this on his own. He could prove to himself and to them that they didn't need to worry about him. He could do this!_

_"Nobody is going to carry this! I will!" Armin surged forward, determined to be better, to grow stronger. He had to start now or it may always be this way. He was a beta, he could push through this as well as any alpha! A rush of confidence came over him and he was ready to do what he must to become Eren and Mikasa's equal._   
  


For so long he had been holding them back, been less confident, less brave than the other two. Mikasa would fly into danger for either of them without hesitation and Eren in all his stupidity would also dash in to save them both. Yet, he could not do the same, he hesitated too much, lacked the strength and willpower that the others had. Once they went into the Survey Corps though, there was no turning back. They would have to be better, stronger, fiercer and it was no different for him. He needed to change and this was the beginning of a new stage in his life, one that might last very short or for a while depending on how he acted.   
  


So in honor of this new life, he was about to step into, he wanted to take a vow, one that he promised he would be stronger, better, faster, and smarter. By giving himself this look, It would be a constant reminder of what he had promised to. When he woke up in the morning and looked in the mirror, caught other people eying him, or felt the exposure of his neck, he would remember this promise.   
  


He stared at himself in the mirror one last time before he moved forward, the word echoing in his mind that he would do whatever he could to stick by Mikasa and Eren’s side no matter what. He wouldn’t leave them or wimp out on them. He would be the best soldier he could be. 

He would survive.

A smell then invaded his room, something that smelled rotten and terrible to the core, a scent he had not smelled in his entire life.


	6. Rescue

Armin darted down the steps as he placed a shirt over his body, heading into the living room where a series of alphas and betas were keening over, coughing and wheezing. The beta then stopped as he took notice that a few others were helping, or at least trying to help, them. 

_They weren’t affected_ , he realized as he saw that they were perfectly normal, having no reaction to the smell at all. And he took notice that all the ones affected were alphas and beta, but not the omegas. 

He then grew worrisome as he watched Ymir gasp as she covered her nose, her eyes wide in disbelief and disgust. She then desperately grabbed at her shirt to cover the smell, but when she sniffed it, her dissatisfaction showed on her face with a low growl. 

That scent wasn't going to be blocked by the smell of perfume or any bodily aroma she tried to smell. The scent poured through anything and everything, even as he passed by omegas who smelled pleasing, he could only smell the thick substance of rotten eggs, puke, and urine around him. 

“What the hell is that?” A blonde beta then complained, her blue cerulean eyes gazing around as she tried to hold a hand over her nose, but that didn’t help her either just like it hadn’t helped Armin or any of the other alphas and betas. 

“What’s the matter, Annie?” an omega asked her, dread pouring on her face as she pushed back her short wavy hair. 

“Don’t you smell that?!” She shouted her eyebrows screwing together in frustration and horror. The omega shook her head as her wavy hair floated in front of her face, her silver, amber eyes looking at Annie in worry.

“I only smell something like flowers. It smells like something sweet.” The beta looked at her with wide eyes, but before she could even complain, she began to dry heave. The smell was suffocating her as it was doing to many others. Armin began to feel the same effects, but he pushed down the urges to puke or give in to any of its effects. 

  
“What could it be?’ Bertholdt then asked the others as he rested against a wall, his nose wrinkled in dissatisfaction while he tried to keep a clear head. 

“Something rotting?” Thomas then suggested as he held his stomach, trying to move towards the front door along with others. The omegas helped the alphas and betas, giving them their shoulder for support. 

  
“We would have smelled it earlier.” Armin then said as he went over to Reiner who gave him a confused look. 

“Is that you, Armin?” Reiner asked as he leaned his weight on the beta’s side. Armin nodded his head as he looked at the others, seeing that each of them wanted some sort of explanation as they took in his new appearance, but he didn’t offer them any. There was no time to explain anything to them now. He pushed forward, getting Renier out with the others. 

  
“But whatever the smell is,” Armin then continued ignoring their looks and pressing forward, “we need to get out of the house before something bad happens to anyone who is affected.” The others agreed. They snapped out of their confusion, helping the other alphas and betas. Others came filtering through the house, asking questions as they tried to escape the scent. 

Out in the main streets, Armin could see dozens of civilians were also dragging themselves out of their homes to the broad daylight. Small children dashed out with their parents as some people dragged others out, or ran away by themselves. The street was in chaos as they headed towards the wall surrounding the city, drifting away from where the scent was which seemed to be coming from somewhere north, towards the downtown area. 

Armin wondered what happened down there and if the people closest to the smell were more drastically affected. The smell of the outside air provided some comfort from the suffocating scent, but it wasn’t enough to have it leave his, or anyone else's, nose completely. The scent was still heavily noticeable. 

  
“Armin!” he heard the shout of his name and turned around to see Mikasa there in the streets, searching for him frantically while also directing others to get out of the house as fast as possible.

“Go over to her,” Reiner then said and leaned his weight off of him. “The smell isn’t as heavy as it was inside.” Armin darted off towards the raven-haired alpha. He pushed past the civilians and trainees heading over to where a cluster of people were surrounding Mikasa, asking for orders and what to do. 

“Follow the crowd to the wall, the scent isn't as strong there, make sure some order is kept. And anyone who isn’t affected must help the other alphas and betas out of the house immediately!” With the orders being delivered as such, the others drifted to where they were supposed to go, some heading back inside to help the alphas and betas head to safety, while a crowd shuffled towards the wall.

“Mikasa!” he shouted out as he brushed past the other taller individuals, trying his best not to get knocked down by the crowd. The alpha heard her name and her eyes searched amongst the people below her for him. And as he waved up to her, jumping up and down in his gray sweats she saw him, but her face held confusion as she took in his appearance. 

“Armin?!” 

“Yes!” He finally then made it over to her as he saw the red scarf over her face, trying to keep the smell out as well, but he already knew it was undoubtedly failing. _  
_   
“Have you seen Eren?” she then questioned as she ignored the change in his appearance. He shook his head in disappointment, worry glistening over his sky-blue eyes. “No, I haven't seen him anywhere, is he in the house still?” 

“No, Eren went into town to get some of the herbs for his nightmares. He may have smelled the scent first before any of us.” Armin understood what she was implying, that he could have the worst of the effects, probably in the streets puking his guts out without a soul to save him or care.   
  


“I got a call from him, before the scent hit, he must have smelled it and been overwhelmed because he immediately dropped his phone.” Her silver eyes then looked into his own cerulean ones as they exchanged a silent agreement of what they were about to do. 

“I’m going to go find him.”

“ I agree, but how can we do it? The smell is still overwhelming. It'll be worse the farther we get downtown.” Mikasa hesitated for a second, but then took off her scarf, handing it to him. Her nose immediately began to scrunch up in discomfort. 

_Did she not smell the scent before?_

“Smell this,” she then directed as she gave him the scarf. He did as she said and sniffed it, and to his amazement, he could not smell the scent anymore. In fact, he smelled nothing but the fabric there, and the faintest hint of a smell so sweet and arousing that he thought he was sniffing an omega at the peek of their heat. 

“Maria,” he cursed as his eyes flickered upwards. 

“How can-” he was cut off by Mikasa shaking her head.

“I don't know but it is our way to get to Eren before something terrible happens to him." He agreed and gave her back the scarf.

“I’ll rip it in half,” she stared down at the fabric for a moment. Armin didn’t say anything even as people filtered around them, heading towards the wall as they wearily helped one another. The sound of the scarf ripping caused Armin to even cringe with Mikasa as she tore apart the most precious thing to her. Armin knew how precious this small piece of material was to her, but she’d sacrifice anything to save Eren. She then handed him a piece and did so with a stoic, but a pained expression. He grabbed it and stuffed it to his face, thanking her, and he was then engulfed by the sweet scent.

Before they went to rescue Eren, Armin watched as alphas and betas still filtered out of the house, grabbing to each other as they tried not to puke from the intensity of the smell. 

“What about your duties?” Mikasa turned her head to the house, eyes filling with frustration as she sighed.

“I can't wait. I have to go and get him, Armin.”

“There is so much chaos. They are going to need someone to lead them.”

“I don't care. I need to find Eren.” She then began to take off towards the direction where people were fleeing from, but Armin grabbed her hand. 

"I understand, but you have to be smart.” He looked off into the groups of people, eyes searching while Mikasa remained anxious and hesitant.

“Sasha!” he called out when his eyes saw her ponytail swaying. She turned around, letting Marco go as he waved her off, telling her he was fine. Armin made his way over to her. 

  
“What’s the matter?” she questioned as Christa and Ymir also stopped, looking at him a bit inquisitive when they saw the red scarf on his face.

“I need you to take over for Mikasa,” he stated, to which her eyes went wide. She started to shake her head and protest the thought of even trying to command the group. “Mikasa and I have to go save Eren, he’s still downtown where the effects of the smell might kill him. And Mikasa needs someone in charge before she leaves.”

“Why are you going there? You two are affected by it, you might die.” Ymir then pointed out.

“No, we are fine, Mikasa’s scarf somehow blocks the smell. I still don’t know why...” Christa then gave the scarf a small look.

“Didn’t Eren give her that scarf?” Armin looked towards her, and for a moment, he was taken back to a small boy, Eren, his brunette hair flying in the breeze as his green eyes were hollow of any emotion. The red scarf he wore wrapped around him tightly as he trudged over to him, covered in what looked like blood. He nodded his head as he snapped out of the memory.

“I need you to be in charge,” Sasha began to protest again, but he silenced her worries, “just until you get to the wall, then you can switch it off to Reiner. He would be the next one in command anyways.” Sasha gave a hesitant look before she nodded her head, Armin sighed in relief as he smiled at her and then ran off towards Mikasa.

“Armin!” he heard the call of his name, and with a groan, he turned around slightly, glaring as he was about to reprimand Sasha. However, to his surprise, Christa was letting go of Ymir, kissing her cheek before heading over to Armin.  


“I’m going to help you,” she stated, leaving no room for argument as Armin kept the red scarf to his face, the feel of the pavement beneath his sock-covered feet unfamiliar. 

“You’re going to need someone who isn’t affected if one of you guys lose the scarf, or just need someone there to help.” He didn’t argue with her words because he would need the help one way or another, and having someone who wasn’t affected would help. 

  
“Alright, come on.” They both took off running as Christa followed Armin and he nodded to Mikasa, signaling her to leave. She took off like a wolf pouncing on its prey. She ran past civilians and trainees alike, not being kind or civilized. The beta and omega followed after her, passing by opened doors or abandoned bikes and horses. People carried their children and mates, hauling them away as they coughed or even stopped to vomit on the side of the road. 

The sound of talking penetrated the air as people asked each other questions, yelled for help, or cried in the streets. It was utter chaos and as the world around them seemed to turn to a frenzy, Armin’s mind began to pick at the reason why any of this was happening. 

He couldn’t even begin to fathom how this was happening, let alone why. What sort of enemy do they have that they would want to do this? His mind immediately went to the titans as the primary cause. He already ruled that out within a second thought because if there were titans here, they would have been dead already, or at least been warned in some sort of way. It couldn't be them. They were scentless creatures, unlike them, and had never been known to ever use these sort of tactics. So who was it? 

  
As he couldn't come up with a proper answer that way, his mind turned to a different solution: state what is happening. He pushed past people as he kept Mikasa in his sights, his mind still thinking as he tried to analyze the situation, state what was going on around him, and hopefully, he would come up with a suitable answer, or at least eliminate some other threats. 

So what was happening? 

A smell had engulfed most of the city that was appalling and affected some with others only smelling something sweet, he recalled, and from what he could tell, the betas and alphas were the only ones who were affected by the smell. It made them want to flee, run from the smell, and if they stayed long enough, it caused them to puke or to have a bad reaction just to the smell itself. The omegas didn’t smell anything terrible though, they were protected-

His movements then stopped hazardously as he was caught in his thought process. A theory, an answer, then came over him. His blood began to drain from his face as he held the piece of cloth, inhaling the alluring scent to gasp at the realization. 

“Armin?” Christa then asked, sticking close to him while the crowd hammered past them, fleeing from the smell while other omegas went back to help the alphas and betas get away as well. He looked to see Mikasa a ways ahead of them, and so he started to run again, but he faced Christa as he did so. 

  
“What do you think is causing all of this?” 

“I don’t know, why, do you?” her eyes then shined in curiosity as they widened, her eyebrows raising with a hint of surprise at his intellect. Armin looked straight ahead to see Mikasa easily wading her way through the crowd, pushing farther and faster while he wondered just what they were getting themselves into, especially Mikasa.

  
“Think about it,” he told her through panting breaths as they tried to dodge the people around them, suddenly very grateful towards Shadis for making them run with multiple obstacles thrown at them during training.   
  


“The smell only affects alphas and betas. The omegas aren’t at all affected. The smell makes alphas and betas turn away, but makes omegas feel comforted and safe.” He should have thought of this from the start, it is the only correct solution or at least a start at solving the larger issue. 

“It is to protect...” and he let that hang in the air as Christa only glanced at him before resuming her trek, going over what he said. Then, in a moment’s notice, her eyes were snapping back up to his, her breath growing heavy as shock registered on her face.   
  


“You can’t be serious!” she shouted at him as she passed by an older man, who was hunched over by a lamppost, puking his guts out. An older omega leaned over to help him, hushing the older man. Armin quickly moved out of the way of abandoned tools that were to the side of the road as he saw the wind pull up Mikasa’s red scarf.  


“It has to be.” He then argued with her. “It’s the only thing that fits.”

“But nothing like that happens on this large of a scale.” 

“I know,” he declared as he hurried his pace to Mikasa, “but it’s the only thing I have. If it is right though, we have to warn Mikasa. She will definitely be in more danger than either of us.” She agreed with that as her eyes lowered, and her crystal gaze took a glance at the scarf. Her eyes grew a little wider then, only for Armin to nod in silent agreement of what was going through her head. They didn’t speak after that as they moved closer to Mikasa, and the flux of people moving began to thin out when they got closer to the source of the smell.   


“Mikasa!” Armin shouted over the panicking crowds, trying to get her attention as he waved towards her. She turned back towards him. He sighed in relief and moved over to her, Christa just behind them.  


“Mikasa,” he called her name with a stern and stark tone, though his breath was a little heavy from panting. “I think I know what's happening.”   


“What is it?” 

  
“I’ve realized that only alphas and betas are affected by this, but not omegas.” Mikasa gave him a look. “No omegas I have seen yet have been affected at all by the smell and only say that they smell something sweet.” Christa confirmed this as she explained that the closer they got to the center of the smell, the more intense the sweet smell was. 

“It doesn’t harm me or anything, just smells nice, safe even,” she said with a glint in her eyes as she knew what she was implying dangerously so. Armin nodded his head in encouragement. The sky above seemed to get darker, the sun being blocked out, the day growing grimmer.   


Mikasa stared at the both of them, uncertainty and hesitance showing bluntly on her face as those gunmetal eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What are you getting at?”  


“There is only one thing I know of that can produce a scent so horrid and only have it affect alphas and betas but not omegas.” He then paused for a moment, eyes darting over to Christa’s uncertain ones as well. 

  
“Something that I fear you and I won't be able to handle.” Armin watched as she narrowed her eyes, while the people began to dwindle around them, only a few civilians left that ran to catch up to the others. He held the fresh fabric to his face and he inhaled the smell again. He found it alluring and arousing and he slowly understood what this would mean for his small family. The skies above darkened, shutting out the light.   
  


“It’s-” 

A roar then ripped through the sky as everything around them quieted and the sound echoed through the sky. Armin and the other two froze in their places as they heard the power in that roar, the raw anger, and hatred that penetrated the air, making each of them shiver with fear. He even noticed Mikasa’s body tremble because of the power in that voice. 

He was then brought back to the day that Shiniganshi fell, the crowding streets as roars and yells were echoing in the air while his hometown burned to the ground. A rush of people hurried to the gates, passing through as they got on horses, went on the crowded boats to the city, all just trying to survive that day. He remembered the smell of fear, pain, agony vibrating through the air while a frenzy of people were stampeding their way across the town. 

At the end of the faint memory, though, he heard the sound of a similar roar echoing across the distance. That day he escaped his hometown, hearing that roar through the air and he felt the rage and pain ebbed in it. 


End file.
